Because if we're going to try and stop the misuse of our favorite comics and their protagonists by the companies that write and publish them, we've got to see what both the printed and online comics news is doing wrong. This blog focuses on both the good and the bad, the newspaper media and the online websites. Unabashedly. Unapologetically. Scanning the media for what's being done right and what's being done wrong.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Sugarcoated coverage of "Marvel Rising", which is more like Marvel sinking

The Gamespot website is the latest video games site that's doing a very bad job covering comic books, writing up a sugary take on the Muslim Ms. Marvel that includes such trash as:

Since her debut, Kamala has become virtually synonymous with the Ms. Marvel identity and one of Marvel's most popular heroes for new comic book readers. She tends to specialize in a mix of high-flying superheroic action adventure and slice of life, coming of age stories focused on her home life and high school career. Unlike Carol, her powers don't come from Kree genetics, but the complicated relationship between the Inhumans, the humans, and the newly mutated "New Inhumans" or "Numans" puts her in a similar brand of conflict: Both Carol and Kamala exist in the overlapping areas between two different worlds, and they both struggle with finding where their responsibilities actually lie.

Their insistence on calling Khan "popular" despite all the financial receipts proving contrary just demonstrates why, if there's any video game sites unqualified for this, it's them. But in a way, this does prove something: unlike most other failed character introductions who were allowed to just be quietly dropped due to lack of popularity or interest, Kamala Khan's given considerable exceptions simply because she's a Muslim adherent. It's pretty much the same case with the Islamic Green Lantern, Simon Baz, over at DC. Such forced diversity has only damaged brands and made the Big Two look like a joke who don't have the courage to let go of a badly developed idea with political overtones like these have.

And even Entertainment Weekly's going all sugary as they report that the Khan character's being used as part of "Marvel Rising", a project with animated cartoons also featuring some of their more recent creations too:

Later this summer, Marvel will launch a series of animated shorts titled Marvel Rising: Initiation. These shorts will build up to an animated film, Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors, that will premiere on Disney Channel in the fall. The story centers on teenage superhero Ghost-Spider (a version of Gwen Stacy who has acquired spider powers), who is on the run from the law after being framed for her friend’s murder. Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Quake, and Patriot are dispatched to bring her in, before they all find themselves teaming up to fight a threat no one had expected. This group of heroes is younger and more inclusive (in terms of both gender and ethnicity) than the mostly white male heroes who dominate the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“Marvel Rising is a big storytelling celebration of the next generation of Marvel heroes, for the next generation of Marvel fans,” says Marvel editor Sana Amanat, a co-executive producer on Marvel Rising who also co-created the Kamala Khan incarnation of Ms. Marvel in 2014. “Over the last few years at Marvel, we’ve seen this huge growth in new types of characters, a younger generation of heroes that has brought in a new cast of Marvel fans. These characters are true to what the Marvel Universe is about, while also being truly reflective of the world outside your window.”

Sounds to me like somebody's robbing Stan Lee of his own phrases and not coming up with her own. All the while not even showing him gratitude. It's surprising though, that this, of all cartoons on the market, is the one involving themes like death, which Saturday morning cartoons of the past usually avoided, because what wasn't an issue even in Silver Age comics is considered too terrifying for children watching motion pictures on TV.

“We’re very interested in their opinions and they had a lot to say,” Lane says. “One thing many girls were asking for was different body types. In animation, characters all sort of look the same, there are similar body types based on model sheets, but here every female character has a different body from the other characters. They were also very open to the ethnic and religious diversity of the cast.”

The different body types also lend themselves to different ways of approaching heroism. Ms. Marvel does not, as Amanat says, have “pretty powers.” Instead, Kamala’s shapeshifting abilities often explode her body to ridiculous proportions, “embiggen-ing” her fists to punch bad guys or stretching her arms to traverse great distances. It’s a relatable dynamic for young fans who are themselves going through some big bodily changes, as are Kamala’s burgeoning friendships with other Marvel Rising superheroes like Squirrel Girl, a.k.a Doreen Green. Kamala and Doreen’s friendship will feature heavily in the animated Marvel Rising stories, as well as tie-in comics like Marvel Rising: Ms. Marvel & Squirrel Girl (the first issue of which hits stores Aug. 1).

Often when I've read claims like these about what girls allegedly want, I get the feeling it's all phony, or they cherry picked the audience they'd appeal to, making it mainly leftists they were catering to. They also fail to elucidate whether the audience they were questioning wanted entertaining action and well conveyed dramatics. Body types alone don't a compelling cartoon make. It's also pretty apparent this'll end up being another Islamic propaganda machine, and that's not bound to make many sensible parents happy.

If this is what Marvel's come down to, then it's just Marvel sinking, into SJW propaganda.

I've followed the Comicsgate kerfuffle for a while but not specific Marvel or DC comics. Do any mainstream comics feature an out of the closet Christian who's a nice person? How about a nice super Buddhist or Hindu? If not, why the Muslim? Could this possibly be because it's a religion whose fanatics have murdered thousands of American citizens, routinely characterize the US as "the great Satan" and when imported as refugees refuse to accept the culture and in fact actively try to subvert it? How much hatred must to have for your own culture and country to do that?

Archie and the gang are reliably Christian. Not just that they celebrate Christmas each year, but in the 70s to the 90s, they were loaned out for a notorious series of evangelical right- wing Christian comics by Al Hartley.

If you judge a religion only by what its fanatics do, you will get a pretty ugly picture of any religion. In the last century or so, Christianity could be blamed for a role in the Troubles in Northern Ireland, for the terrorism of bombings of abortion clinics and murder of doctors who do abortions in the United States, perhaps for a role in the anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust and with greater confidence for the killing fields of Eastern Europe during the same period, for genocide in Yugoslavia and pogroms across Russia and Eastern Europe....

That is a pretty biased picture of Christianity; about as biased as the picture of Islam in one of the posts above.

I don't. The point I am trying to make is that's exactly what the multiculturalists are doing. Anyone who attacks western culture is their friend. Those who defend it are their enemies. Since 9/11 until quite recently, Islam has been at war with western culture. In some respects I can understand it, in others, like the spread of Wahhabism with Saudi petro dollars, I am concerned.

I have to admit to being surprised that there openly Christian superheros, so I have no problem with an openly Muslim one.

About me

I'm Avi Green

From Jerusalem, Israel

I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.